Ultimate Painting

with Spissy, Daguerreotype
Ultimate Painting, the duo of Jack Cooper and James Hoare, are pleased to announce the release of their new album, Dusk, on September 30th via Trouble In Mind. Recorded to tape by James in his East London flat and home studio, Dusk is the third album from the London-based duo, a ten song set that expands the group's sound from their self-titled debut and their critically acclaimed sophomore effort, Green Lanes. The band's first single, "Bills," dives head-first into a crystalline pool of jangle.Ultimate Painting are lucky enough to be comprised of two singular voices in Jack Cooper and James Hoare, who met when on tour together with their other bands Mazes and Veronica Falls. The pair's distinctive songwriting styles began to blur with Green Lanes, but on Dusk it 's hard to tell where Cooper ends and Hoare begins. Their tunes weave in and out of each other like the duo's respective six-strings, spiraling around each other in a laconic dance.Album opener and first single "Bills" furthers the duo's reputation as purveyors of the Verlaine/Lloyd legacy, but despite the evident influence of American guitar pop both past and present, the group has recorded an album that feels decidedly English. Cooper's abstract poeticism balances perfectly alongside Hoare's alluring and universal pop leanings. The group has discovered a simple lushness in Dusk's arrangements, sometimes only with subtle additions like the recently acquired Wurlitzer piano that drives tunes like "Lead The Way" or washes underneath others like "Monday Morning, Somewhere Central." They've tapped into the subtle grace that infects the mood and emotions experienced at times like sunrise and dusk, hopefulness, resignation, ennui.The casual setting during the album's recording allowed the sessions and songs to unfold naturally, with James and Jack accompanied by recent live drummer Melissa Rigby, who drums on the entirety of Dusk. Her skills lend a rhythmic elasticity to songs like "A Portrait of Jason" and "I Can't Run Anymore," with jazzy undertones that break from the band's previously unadorned 4/4 leanings. Dusk feels different and cements the group's presence in the modern world of guitar pop, finding voice in the allure of quietude.